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Time's Anvil: England, Archaeology and the Imagination
A personal and lyrical rediscovery of the history of England through archaeology and the imagination
History thrives on stories, and this study explores archaeology's influence on what such stories say, how they are told, who tells them, and how we listen. In a dazzlingly wide-ranging exploration, Richard Morris casts fresh light on three quarters of a million years of history in the place we now think of as England. Drawing upon genres that are usually pursued in isolation—like biography, poetry, or physics—he finds potent links between things we might imagine to be unrelated. His subjects range from humanity's roots to the destruction of the wildwood, from the first farmers to industrialization, and from Tudor drama to 21th-century conflict. Each topic sits at a different point along the continuum between epoch and the fleeting moment. In part, this is a history of archaeology; in part, too, it is a personal account of the author's history in archaeology. But mainly it is about how the past is read, and about what we bring to the reading as well as what we find. The result is a book that defies categorization, but one which will by turns surprise, enthrall, and provoke.
History thrives on stories, and this study explores archaeology's influence on what such stories say, how they are told, who tells them, and how we listen. In a dazzlingly wide-ranging exploration, Richard Morris casts fresh light on three quarters of a million years of history in the place we now think of as England. Drawing upon genres that are usually pursued in isolation—like biography, poetry, or physics—he finds potent links between things we might imagine to be unrelated. His subjects range from humanity's roots to the destruction of the wildwood, from the first farmers to industrialization, and from Tudor drama to 21th-century conflict. Each topic sits at a different point along the continuum between epoch and the fleeting moment. In part, this is a history of archaeology; in part, too, it is a personal account of the author's history in archaeology. But mainly it is about how the past is read, and about what we bring to the reading as well as what we find. The result is a book that defies categorization, but one which will by turns surprise, enthrall, and provoke.
384 pages, Paperback
First published November 8, 2012
12 people are currently reading
154 people want to read
About the author
Richard Morris
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There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
February 21, 2016
I really need more books on archaeology; it’s a relaxing thing to read about, somehow, and I prefer it to biography because it can be so varied. Time’s Anvil certainly delivered on the ‘varied’ front, though it is very varied in a way that does feel odd at times: one moment it reflects on the personal life of Morris’ forebears, the next on the historical landscape of Britain, and the two are rather mingled. It meanders, is the best way I can think of to put it. It’s not uninteresting, but some chapters feel immensely dense while others just don’t go into the depth I’d like.
Stuff I did find interesting: the battlefield archaeology stuff, particularly on placing battle sites like that of Bosworth more precisely; the attention to that moment of thrill in holding an artefact that links you somehow to someone hundreds or thousands of years before you; examining the role of metal detecting; examining problems with excavation vs preservation, and in addition, what should be preserved and how we should do that…
There’s a lot of interesting stuff touched on, but it’s not really a book about any one thing, save for the development of English archaeology in general. A book like Seahenge is much more satisfying to me: it sets out a problem, a mystery, and seeks to solve it — knowing always that we can’t have that final scene where the culprit is decisively named. I like the chains of evidence, comparisons between sites, the surprises that crop up during excavations… In that sense, this book isn’t specific enough for me.
So, all in all, enjoyable enough, but not what I really wanted.
Originally posted here.
Stuff I did find interesting: the battlefield archaeology stuff, particularly on placing battle sites like that of Bosworth more precisely; the attention to that moment of thrill in holding an artefact that links you somehow to someone hundreds or thousands of years before you; examining the role of metal detecting; examining problems with excavation vs preservation, and in addition, what should be preserved and how we should do that…
There’s a lot of interesting stuff touched on, but it’s not really a book about any one thing, save for the development of English archaeology in general. A book like Seahenge is much more satisfying to me: it sets out a problem, a mystery, and seeks to solve it — knowing always that we can’t have that final scene where the culprit is decisively named. I like the chains of evidence, comparisons between sites, the surprises that crop up during excavations… In that sense, this book isn’t specific enough for me.
So, all in all, enjoyable enough, but not what I really wanted.
Originally posted here.
April 5, 2013
There is so much in this book, it's difficult to sort my thoughts. If you are interested in time, human history, archaeology, science, religion, architecture, collective memory, theater, poetry, ecology, biology, psychology, pretty much any "ology," you will eat this book up. Chiefly, Morris wants to remind us not to trap ourselves into looking at history as a rote set of grammar-school-recited events. Rather, he wants us to focus on the continuum of time, and realize almost all human practices and achievements develop over thousands of years.
Morris is also interested in the landscape in which we all live, the story it has to tell, and the (often false) stories we regularly tell ourselves about it. Even Americans grow up with a collective memory of a wooded British past, filled with fairy tales, swords, and of course a fellow named Robin Hood. In reality, deforestation of England was nearly complete by the time of these tales of the Middle Ages. In fact, Morris reminds us - the moment modern human beings (or as he calls them "New Ones") arrived on the scene, they began changing the landscape around them. Human beings are part of nature, Morris wants to remind us, not separate entities.
The author has fascinating things to say about subjects I don't have the energy to go into here (seriously, just get the book). Among them:
-Taking to task the British collective perception of a static non-progress-filled "before-time" prior to the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons
-Questioning the perception of the Middle Ages as a time lacking in progress
-Presenting a theory of one string of religious/spiritual traditions marked by special places running from pre-history right through Roman occupation, through the Middle Ages, on to the present
-A discussion of ancient traditions, formerly incorporated into Catholic parish activities and outlawed during the Reformation transforming into a tradition of theater in the Elizabethan era (thankfully, since it brought us The Bard)
-A plea to end the nonsense of allowing popular notions of unproven "history" to be granted the same legitimacy as proven, actual history - this can be very dangerous (Holocaust deniers being a particularly egregious example). I felt this argument could be put forth for today's news media as well - it seems increasingly we feel the need to be "sensitive to all sides," even when one of those sides can be proven wrong by scientific evidence.
Clearly, there's a lot in this book, which is why its hard to synthesize a description into a few sentences. I suspect many people will take many different lessons and perceptions from the many stories and fascinating anecdotes told here. I know different passages will be popping into my head for months at LEAST.
Morris is also interested in the landscape in which we all live, the story it has to tell, and the (often false) stories we regularly tell ourselves about it. Even Americans grow up with a collective memory of a wooded British past, filled with fairy tales, swords, and of course a fellow named Robin Hood. In reality, deforestation of England was nearly complete by the time of these tales of the Middle Ages. In fact, Morris reminds us - the moment modern human beings (or as he calls them "New Ones") arrived on the scene, they began changing the landscape around them. Human beings are part of nature, Morris wants to remind us, not separate entities.
The author has fascinating things to say about subjects I don't have the energy to go into here (seriously, just get the book). Among them:
-Taking to task the British collective perception of a static non-progress-filled "before-time" prior to the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons
-Questioning the perception of the Middle Ages as a time lacking in progress
-Presenting a theory of one string of religious/spiritual traditions marked by special places running from pre-history right through Roman occupation, through the Middle Ages, on to the present
-A discussion of ancient traditions, formerly incorporated into Catholic parish activities and outlawed during the Reformation transforming into a tradition of theater in the Elizabethan era (thankfully, since it brought us The Bard)
-A plea to end the nonsense of allowing popular notions of unproven "history" to be granted the same legitimacy as proven, actual history - this can be very dangerous (Holocaust deniers being a particularly egregious example). I felt this argument could be put forth for today's news media as well - it seems increasingly we feel the need to be "sensitive to all sides," even when one of those sides can be proven wrong by scientific evidence.
Clearly, there's a lot in this book, which is why its hard to synthesize a description into a few sentences. I suspect many people will take many different lessons and perceptions from the many stories and fascinating anecdotes told here. I know different passages will be popping into my head for months at LEAST.
November 9, 2016
I can't recall why I bought this, and procrastinated it for a long time - needlessly as I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a long book and while it does have some pictures, there's no conversation.
He does a lovely job (for me) of talking about the role and place of archaeology, and about England. the thesis is that "Ages" and other compartmentalisations of history are almost certainly wrong, and that patterns are very long and longitudinal.
I think I leaned a lot, but it's not facts, rather attitudes and ideas. Very good.
He does a lovely job (for me) of talking about the role and place of archaeology, and about England. the thesis is that "Ages" and other compartmentalisations of history are almost certainly wrong, and that patterns are very long and longitudinal.
I think I leaned a lot, but it's not facts, rather attitudes and ideas. Very good.
April 4, 2015
Excellent book for anyone with the vaguest interest in archaeology, or the history of the British Isles. Its interesting to see particularly how our understanding of ancient Britain and the role of Angles, Saxons etc has changed and developed. Some really interesting stuff on ancient deforestation and population sizes but also really good stuff on all sorts of other areas - the English Civil War, the development of Birmingham, etc.
December 9, 2016
This took a while to finish, but it was still really interesting and explained so perfectly why I'm so enamored with archaeology. It also included some thoughtful commentary about how we delineate "epochs" and "ages" and how none of that really means anything. The writing was a bit all over the place and confused me sometimes, which is why it's not a perfect score, but someone with a clearer head or better focus might not get so confused, haha. Anyone who would love to learn more about archaeology should read this book. If the title wasn't a giveaway, it is focused almost solely on British history, but the ideas are universal.
October 11, 2024
Trying to put an actual rating on this is difficult. On the one hand some chapters are so engrossing I struggled to put the book down but overall I found it unsatisfying and difficult to keep reading.
September 16, 2018
A tour de force - interweaving archeology, autobiography, philosophy and scientific method - and more. Really enjoyed it.
May 31, 2021
While some bits were fascinating, mainly the middle history bits, a lot of the rest, especially the autobiographical bits just seemed random or incomprehensible.
June 29, 2024
Beautifully written exploration of British Archaeology - my favorite subject.
December 24, 2013
A wonderful general-audience book that goes beyond British archaeology into richness after richness: memoir, and the link of memoir to six thousand years of British cultural life; complexity and chaos over linear narratives of technological, social and ecological change; the changing interplay of games and the sacred; and myriad fascinating specialist stories, from the effects on the study of Elizabethan drama of the archaeology of a theater to the transformative role of battlefield archaeology to the disturbing links between New Age anti-historical romanticism and Holocaust denial.
Time's Anvil never ceases to surprise, intrigue, and fascinate. It's a very broad-brush approach, unlike many more specialist works in British archaeology, but its use of narrative, memoir and theme keep it from being a mere survey work. The book is, like its subject, a fractal story, operating on scales of millennia and moments simultaneously.
This is just a truly, generally, good read.
Time's Anvil never ceases to surprise, intrigue, and fascinate. It's a very broad-brush approach, unlike many more specialist works in British archaeology, but its use of narrative, memoir and theme keep it from being a mere survey work. The book is, like its subject, a fractal story, operating on scales of millennia and moments simultaneously.
This is just a truly, generally, good read.
December 24, 2015
This is an uneven book, but it has some very enjoyable chapters.
It tells the story of archaeology in England - its history, major developments and recent advances - in relatively short readable chapters that are akin to short essays, although they are linked. There is much enthusiasm, excellent storytelling and comprehensible (to a layman) analysis. There are digressions into the author's personal history and that of his family, which are largely integrated into the main story/argument.
However, it is disjointed and in the afterword it does note that the book was written over the period from 2000, with some chapters having to be revisited in the light of subsequent discoveries. You can feel this unevenness when reading it, but I thought that the chapter on aerial archaeology was fantastic.
It tells the story of archaeology in England - its history, major developments and recent advances - in relatively short readable chapters that are akin to short essays, although they are linked. There is much enthusiasm, excellent storytelling and comprehensible (to a layman) analysis. There are digressions into the author's personal history and that of his family, which are largely integrated into the main story/argument.
However, it is disjointed and in the afterword it does note that the book was written over the period from 2000, with some chapters having to be revisited in the light of subsequent discoveries. You can feel this unevenness when reading it, but I thought that the chapter on aerial archaeology was fantastic.
May 8, 2014
Best history I've read in a long while.
March 31, 2014
Crammed with stories and ideas. To be savored.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews